BDA clears encroachment to pave way for drainage construction

A joint eviction squad comprising Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), General Administration (GA) Department of the Odisha government and Drainage Division, Cuttack initiated demolition of 21 illegal structures raised on encroached government land in Madhusudan Nagar and Acharya Vihar area under Saheed Nagar police limits here.

Around 40 staffs of BDA, BMC, GA department and Drainage department, along with police personnel, were deployed to carry out the demolition.

Zone ACP Nimai Charan Sethi, along with the IICs of Saheed Nagar and Infocity police station and two platoons of police force, was present at the spot to prevent any untoward incident.

“Around 21 plot owners and some slum people had encroached on government land earmarked for construction of drain number 4 with a length of 750 metres and width of 5 metres. The encroachment varied from 5 ft to 60 ft,” Executive Engineer of drainage division Cuttack Pradip Sagar Duria said

The drain is being constructed by the drainage division, Cuttack under the centrally funded Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) at a cost of Rs 28.79 crores, he said.

The drain is being constructed to ease the problem of water logging in the low lying area of Acharya Vihar which houses about 250 families. But it had got stuck since 2006 because of litigation as 13 plot owners of Madhusudan Nagar secured a stay on the demolition from the High Court.

The additional land officer of GA department had filed a counter affidavit stating that the petitioners had occupied government land unauthorisedly.

After hearing both sides, the court, in its order on March 6, 2014, had directed to the concerned departments to demolish the fence constructed by the plot owners and resume construction of the drain.

“After getting the order from GA department, we have started demolishing the boundary walls constructed by house owners in the area by pressing two bull-dozers,” BDA enforcement officer Deba Prasad Dash said.